so much more
by bonniebutterfly
Summary: In which Sasayan is such an annoying smartypants that knows too much about her. Sasayan/Natsume. Oneshot.


**fandom:** tonari no kaibutsu-kun

**pairing:** sasayan/natsume

She felt her heart constrict, _with adoration_ she mentally added and then mentally slap herself right after when she saw him entering the stadium. The voices in her head was always split into 'pro-Sasayan' and 'anti-Sasayan', and it was a growing concern to her nowadays that 'anti-Sasayan' had been missing for a few months; and even if she was present – 'anti-Sasayan' really has nothing to say most of the time.

A crowd of girls behind her, screamed 'Sasayan' at the top of their lungs when Sasahara Souhei was announced in the players lineup. Back then in highschool, she would be the loudest to cheer his name but since she came alone to watch his game today, it would be out of place for her to suddenly shout his name and 'anti-Sasayan' said in a small voice that _it might gave him ideas_. Funny, she thought that 'anti-Sasayan' had long disappeared but then, she swore she could hear his voice saying _'Don't flatter yourself, Natsume-san'_ and she could vividly imagined how annoyed he would look with his eyes narrowed.

He was more or less only 400 meters apart and she could even see him clearly from her seat but she felt her heart constrict again when she saw how he grinned at his teammates with his eyes closed _and God she missed him so much_. They had not been meeting up for the past month because he was so busy with his practices and studies and practices and his_ other_ friends _that was not her _and 'anti-Sasayan' reared her ugly head again and told her that the girls from before might be the _other _friends.

She established it as meet ups because she couldn't, wouldn't label it as dates and again his voice echoed in her head _'I see no difference though'_.

'Pro-Sasayan' had completely evolved to 'Sasayan' himself.

* * *

Sasayan waved at her direction once the game finished and won, and he smiled that childish earnest smile of his but she was not sure if it was really directed at her because the girls behind her sounded a little too excited for her comfort or what she could deduce without looking back at them and God knows her restrain was weak. But she waved back albeit a little too low and cautious for the normal her in case he wasn't actually waving at her but she knew _he is_ and the 'Sasayan' inside her mind added _'because you knew that I like you'_.

He soon made his way towards her direction and again, she felt self conscious that maybe it wasn't her that he was walking to but then he took a sit beside her and her heart skipped a beat and at the back of her mind, she could hear _'see, I told you'_ and this time, he grinned mischievously instead of smiling and she knew she was in trouble.

"You didn't tell me that you will be coming." He sounded too happy for her liking and she pouted in frustration because now _he knew too_.

"What? I thought that the game is open to public and I have free time so why not." She sounded a bit defensive when she replied and she mentally beat herself for that because he was rolling his eyes now. Typical Sasayan.

"Did you remember to record your _'favourite show ever',_ Pretty Beauty?"

She involuntarily blushed when she heard him said Pretty Beauty but then her slow mind's gear turned and she almost facepalmed out of shame and vanity when she realized that Pretty Beauty was actually her current favourite show and _'no, Natsume-san, I'm not praising you'_, the 'Sasayan' in her head whispered. But then, her slow mind's gear turned again and she finally caught his implication – her missing the show to watch his game.

And her heart skipped a beat again, because he remembered even those tiny insignificant details and to think that she was so mad at him because he was so busy and at one point she accused of him (_in her head_, because she knew that there will be a full blown out fight if she said it out loud) not caring about her.

"I-I could just stream it later or something. Or-or rent the full DVD boxset once it's out."

"Oh, I see." Sasayan's grin just grew wider.

"What's with that tone?" Natsume narrowed her eyes and nudged his shoulder harshly. Sasayan in turn, just rolled his eyes and nudged her back.

Natsume wondered how they had come close to fighting (_eventhough she had missed him so much just a few seconds ago)_ if he decided to answer her rhetorical question because he was such an annoying smartypants sometimes but she was glad and ashamed at the same time because she knew how difficult she could be; experience surely taught him to just shut up and enjoy the moment because she could blew up any minutes from now.

One of Sasayan's teammate passed by them and gave a low whistle. "I can't believe you never told me that you've got a girlfriend, Sasayan."

Natsume couldn't help to twitch at that but then Sasayan said calmly, reassuringly, while smiling that stupid doofus smile, "She's not my girlfriend." The guy wiggled his eyes at Sasayan implying something that Natsume recognized beyond years of men-loathing. But at that point as if to stop her from fuming, Sasayan screamed again.

"But she's off limit, Senpai!"

* * *

They went to eat at a family restaurant, 5 minutes walking distance from his university and as they walked, they would intentionally bump to each other closer and closer because that was what they do best.

Natsume smiled foolishly as she remembered how she dragged Shizuku to eat dinner with her there last week and how she would create excuses on why they should stay there longer and Shizuku was furious because she had to study and almost called Sasayan's number to just get his ass there. Almost, because Natsume frantically throw the phone as far as possible and thankfully her Mitty was too much of a penny-pincher that she snatched Natsume's phone to call Sasayan instead of using her own.

"Is that a new phone?" Sasayan leaned closer, if possible. Natsume nodded, thinking to herself this guy was too sharp for his own good.

"Why? I mean, you told me that you really, really love your last phone. I thought that you said the in-built photo apps is God-like." He asked as he made her remember how awful it was for him the few months after she bought her last phone – she would go on and on about the in-built photo apps that he would just flat out ignores her whenever she said anything about the apps or avoid talking about phone completely.

"Ha-ha very funny. I never said anything about God-like though, it's awesome but not God-like level yet. I've tried the 'mascara' function but it really was nothing special-" Sasayan raised his eyebrows teasingly at that and chuckled to himself and Natsume knew that she was about to ramble again about the apps.

"Fine. I'll shut up but Sasayan-kun, this new phone has like 70 more free filters than the old o-" Sasayan raised both of his hands only to shove them right in his ears and mumbled silently that he should never talk about phone ever in front of Natsume again. Natsume smiled in victory and mentally fist pumped because she had just managed to successfully avoid talking about the real reason why she had to buy a new phone and she knew couldn't really lie in front of Sasayan.

* * *

Natsume saw the girls from before entering the restaurant and she could immediately felt her mood going down. She had momentarily forgot about them after she saw Sasayan and God knows how she did not want to feel like this. Natsume knew exactly how it felt to be on the other end- the one who gets hated just because of _stupid boys_ and she never _ever_ wanted that to happen to anyone else so she breathed in and out, trying to dispel all the ill feelings.

This would not do, she thought. She would never stoop as low as the girls who had ostracized her and she steeled herself as they walked towards her direction or specifically, Sasayan. She stole a glance at Sasayan and he looked quite pleased at seeing the girls and waved at them.

"Ooooooh Sasayan managed to snatch himself a cutie pie." One of the girls immediately cooed and Natsume lowered her head nervously while Sasayan managed to choke out a laugh. "Natsume-san, this is my classmates. Girls, this is Natsume Asako and she's my friend from highschool."

Sasayan then proceed to introduce her to each of the girls and Natsume's ill feelings immediately dissipated into thin air when the girls looked more than happy to meet her. One of the girls, asked her about her eyeshadow and in less than a minute, it had become a conversation focused on their favourite makeup's brands. Sasayan was starting to feel left out as he joked on whether he should move to the other table, alone.

"Hey ey ey girls, it seemed that we had just disturbed Sasayan's date. Let's give them their private time together, ok?" Sasayan rolled his eyes as he heard that and Natsume nervously tried to explain that they're not on date it's just a meet up but the group of girls winked at her meaningfully. Her face heated up so much that she still needed to fan it with her hands even after the girls left to sit at their own table.

She would die if she ever admits it but she liked Sasayan's tone when he referred her as his _friend_. It means so much to her to be called that and oh God why was he so patient to a fault; the girls were all so pretty and stylish and she knew that he could get any of the girls if he so much said the words. Because Sasayan is nice, understanding, patient, caring, attentive, friendly and she could go on and on forever.

But deep down, she knew she would not truly be happy with that and she just wanted to punch herself for her selfishness.

* * *

"Sasayan-kun, when's your next game?" Natsume asked casually as they arrived in front of her house. Sasayan looked a bit taken aback by her question then he smiled slightly and Natsume felt her mind go into a haywire because she suddenly felt the irrational need to shook his shoulder and ask him to stop smiling because it does _things_ to her heart. And these are the times where Natsume wondered; who likes who_ (more)_?

"Next Friday, why? Do you plan to come, Natsume-san?"

She shrugged and told him she'll come if she's not doing anything and he told her don't forget to record A Detective's Heart if she decided to come and Natsume just pouted in annoyance at what he was implying. He grinned at her again as they were about to part and not before nagging at her about trivial things like closing her windows at night _(because she's the type to get cold easily)_.

Natsume had thought the scene countless of times in her mind when she planned to go to his game- she wanted to hug him tightly and told him that she missed him so so so much and he would scoff at her saying something that would make her angry like, "I know", because he was such a smartypants and she would hit his chest and he would just laugh.

But Sasayan walked back to his home and she only managed to stare at his now broader back and she knew that she likes him so so so much _more_ because she felt the irrational urge to grab his wrist and lock him in her room.

* * *

"You cut your hair?! You said that you'll keep your hair long until you could become the next Rapunzel," Sasayan asked worriedly as he took a seat beside her after he finished the game. His team lost this time around.

"Don't you know that bob hair is the in thing now?" Natsume asked offhandedly while stealing a glance at Sasayan that was trying to cool his body from the sweats. Sasayan muttered a silent 'whatever' at Natsume's rhetorical question.

"Wait-wait, don't tell me that you had been dumped _again_?" Natsume flinched as she heard the word again (and the worries) in Sasayan's question. She shook her head and gave him an offended look.

"I remember telling you that woman don't necessarily cut their hair for that reason, don't I? And besides, you would be the first one to know if that happen, okay?" _Because you are attentive and sharp and caring_, she thought to herself. He breathed a sigh of relief and muttered a low but still audible, "lucky me".

"Well, I trimmed my hair too," Sasayan said as he removed the baseball cap from his hand and sheepishly ran his finger through his new short hair. Natsume eyes widened as she saw that and Sasayan sharp as ever quickly effectively explained, "…for my upcoming internship, okay?" And even with that as his answer, Natsume could feel her heart shattered into million pieces because he would be busier than ever then.

The split second of her ever constant irrationality finally wins as she leaned her head on his shoulder and after a few seconds, buried her face in it. She could feel his body tensed initially but later when she buried her face, he relaxed , held her closer and softly stroked her new short hair. "You do know that I just finished a game, right?"

She hit his chest and made a muffled sound on his shoulder. "Just checking, Natsume-san. Just checking."

"I… like you," Natsume finally, finally said as she lifted a little bit of her face from his shoulder, her heart felt like it could jumped out from her throat any moment now but Sasayan only hummed as he draw tiny circles on her back again and again.

"I know," he rolled his eyes as Natsume peeked timidly from his shoulder and Natsume mentally patted herself for knowing his exact reaction way before and she wondered what else this smarty pants knew.

"No, you don't know. I…_like_…you so much more." Her voice lowered significantly when she uttered 'like' and Sasayan just smirked down at her, shaking his head.

"As if," he said as he dipped down to kiss her and hid both of their faces under his baseball cap. Natsume's last thought before that was for him to never _ever _stop smirking as she tightly clung on his uniform.


End file.
